Confucius Not for Wealth
One day a disciple of Confucius asked his master: "Some good people lived and died poor while other bad people lived and died rich. How would you explain it, sir?"
Confucius answered: "If I think I have to succeed in this world, I would be the meanest servant of a minister or a king. As I think this way of my life is right, I don't mind this inconvenience in living. There is clear distinction among people for their ways of living."
Even in ancient China, to gain a successful career, one had to serve seniors, bosses, high-ranking officers, noblemen, or a king who could be mean as much as he could be. Therefore Confucius tried to correct the minds of those who governed states and controlled the society. Confucius thought that once decent leaders or kings had governed China, but as time went by, people lost righteousness. Confucius tried to revive moral governance by teaching the true way of human beings.
While Confucius was living, those who made a fortune or got promoted in a government of each state of China at the time did not possess righteous minds and decent hearts with due respect to ancestors and traditions. So, Confucius did not want to make a fortune or be a servant of a royal court, since it meant to abandon the right way for human beings.
To have a righteous mind and then receive what a righteous man can receive is his way of life. Confucius saw that only rotten and evil guys making big money and being promoted in royal courts in ancient China. And what he wanted to do is to make people abandon evil ways.
So, for Confucius, wealth and social status were secondary matter. He wanted to correct minds of the elite as well as ordinary people.
If Confucius wanted to be wealthy or successful in royal courts, his words must not have been respected by people.
However, Confucius must have thought that a righteous man like him should govern a state and control wealth of a nation.
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Mar 3:23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
Mar 3:24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Mar 3:25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Mar 3:26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.